I want to buy a bridge camera

jtmiv

Dear Board,

I understand the limitations of the smaller sensor and know it is a compromise. I want a camera that can stay with me in my car during my 35 minute commute to and from work. I often see deer or other wildlife on the drive and if I had something with me I'd pull over and rattle off a few frames.

I have a Canon 40D and 1DMK11 with lenses but I don't want them sitting in the car all day at work, hence my need for a bridge camera.

I am currently considering three cameras, the Fuji Finepix S1, the Olympus Stylus 1, and the Panasonic FZ200. I'd appreciate hearing from anyone with experience with any of these cameras. I'll listen to good and bad comments, I'd just like to hear from people with experience using one of the above cameras. I have selected those three cameras specifically because they allow me to shoot in RAW. Please don't suggest the Canon SX50, I've handled it in a store and I didn't like it at all though it has legions of fans. It just doesn't feel comfortable in my hands so I am considering other options.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

ziggy53

Rats. I was hoping that someone who owns one of these cameras would reply.

IMO, the Fuji Finepix S1 would be a great daylight camera, with a very large zoom range and a long telephoto capability. The primary weakness, compared to your other two choices, is a rather poor high-ISO capability. It has weather seals, if that matters to you. (It would matter to me for your intended use.) It does have a full hot-shoe and several optional external flashes which would help for indoor shooting.

Both of the other choices have a faster, albeit shorter, zoom lens, and they seem to fair better in low light.

None of the choices does really well in high-ISO settings.

If high-ISO is a concern, I additionally suggest one of the Sony NEX models and two lenses. In particular, the NEX 5N is available in used but good to EX condition in the high $200USD to low $300s. Coupled with the two "kit" lenses it can provide both a good zoom range (18mm to 210mm total) "and" the ISO range to ISO 3200 is very nice indeed. (ISO 6400 and above get pretty noisy and intrude fine image details.) Altogether for around $700-$750 you can put together a very serviceable camera plus 2-lens kit that isn't too cumbersome. The longer zoom is a bit slow to focus sometimes and gets worse in lower and low light, but the focus peaking allows acceptable manual focus speeds. It's not quite a dSLR replacement, but can service a broad range of subject matter.

Hackbone

Anything by Fuji is super in my book. They have some of the best color straight out of the camera I've ever seen. I keep the Canon G10 with me at all times. They are now up to the 11 or 12. It is smaller but powerful and will shoot raw files, manual or auto and a ton of other features. You can find decent ones on Ebay for a great price.

jtmiv

Dear Board,

I was ready to buy the Fuji Finepix S1 but Black Friday morning I got an email special from B&H that had the Panasonic FZ200 for $ 298.00. I thought about it all day while sitting at work twiddling my thumbs and finally ordered it from Adorama Black Friday night as they matched B&H's price.

It will be a huge step up from my present walk around Olympus SP320 P&S. I chose the FZ200 over the Fuji because I already have a number of 52mm filters and the Panasonic allows you to use both filters and the lens hood without having to buy additional items. It also comes with an external charger which would have been extra money with the Fuji. I can also buy a 3rd party flash for it, which I can't do with the Fuji, and I can get the Panasonic 1.7 teleconverter and adapter ring for about $ 250.00. That will get me to 1020mm which is more than I have with my 40D and Sigma 150-500 OS if I want to go that route.

I'll fiddle around with it and let you know what I think of it once I get it this week.

Regards,

Tim Murphy